Home > News > Cheap drinking water from the world’s oceans
June 28th, 2007
Cheap drinking water from the world’s oceans
Abstract:
Carbon nanotube-based membranes: Nanotubes, special molecules made of carbon atoms in a unique arrangement, are hollow and each is more than 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Billions of these tubes act as the pores in the membrane. The super-smooth inside of the nanotubes allow liquids and gases to rapidly flow through, while the tiny pore size can block larger molecules. This previously unobserved phenomenon opens a vast array of possible applications. Membranes that have carbon nanotubes as pores could be used in desalination and demineralisation. Salt removal from water, commonly performed through reverse osmosis, uses less permeable membranes, requires large amounts of pressure and is quite expensive. However, these more permeable nanotube membranes could reduce the energy costs of desalination by up to 75 percent compared to conventional membranes used in reverse osmosis, researchers have said. The membranes sort molecules by size and with electrostatic forces. The carbon nanotubes used by the researchers are sheets of carbon atoms rolled so tightly that only seven water molecules can fit across their diameter.
Source:
tribuneindia.com
Bookmark:
| Related News Press |
Nanotubes/Buckyballs/Fullerenes/Nanorods/Nanostrings
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Detection of bacteria and viruses with fluorescent nanotubes July 21st, 2023
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Water
Taking salt out of the water equation October 7th, 2022
Human Interest/Art
Drawing data in nanometer scale September 30th, 2022
Scientists prepare for the world’s smallest race: Nanocar Race II March 18th, 2022
Graphene nanotubes revolutionize touch screen use for prosthetic hands August 3rd, 2021
JEOL Announces 2020 Microscopy Image Grand Prize Winners January 7th, 2021
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||